Manners was intensely surprised at this announcement. It was, indeed, startling and important news. The mystery was solved at last.
"It was Sir Henry, then!" he exclaimed. "I might have guessed as much."
"It was Sir Henry, and I witnessed it, but I will tell thee afterwards. Listen, for time is short. Pierce this corner with the dagger; do it quickly, for the wall is thick. There is a passage on the other side, of which none knows save my master and myself. The wall is softest here, and I will help thee from the other side: but I must make thy gaoler drunk. He is full fond of ale, so you may be assured that you will be unmolested, and I will have horses saddled at a distance. Adieu until to-night," and not heeding the thanks which Manners poured out from his grateful heart, he rapped at the door so that he might pass out.
The meal arrived in good time. A tankard of ale and a slice of bacon with wheaten bread, more than he could eat.
It was not long before Manners had satisfied his hunger, and in his feverish anxiety he could barely wait to hear Eustace's cheery voice exclaim to the gaoler, "Mat, I have brought thee some ale for letting me in to see the prisoner."
"Welcome it is," was the reply, and very soon a stentorian snore announced to the captive that his guardian had fallen into a drunken slumber, and told him that he might venture to set about his work with safety.
An hour's labour proved very unsatisfactory, for the wall was much harder than he had anticipated, and in spite of the goodwill with which he worked, the injuries he had received the day before seriously retarded his efforts.
Eustace, however, was working with more success on the other side, and in a couple more hours a hole, sufficiently wide for Manners to creep through, had been made, and in a few more minutes Dorothy's betrothed was a free man again, urging his steed to the utmost, to fetch help from Haddon, and to capture the miscreant knight who had effected so much evil.